Exposing the Invisible

Noting that the digital age has profoundly transformed the way people find and share information - with the internet enabling collaboration between activists, hackers, and journalists - Tactical Tech seeks through this project to unearth previously unimaginable possibilities in investigative reporting. Through a series of short films, video interviews, guides, and resources on the Exposing the Invisible website, the project looks at different techniques, tools, and methods, along with the individual practices of those working at the new frontiers of investigation. The project explores how new types of actors, artists, data journalists, programmers, researchers and activists are able to work together to identify new strands of evidence available in the public sphere.

For instance, the Exposing the Invisible film series focuses on investigations and how to use innovative tools and tactics to pursue them. The first film, "Our Currency Is Information", looks at some investigative cases in Eastern Europe and Azerbaijan, examining organised crime and how it functions. The second episode, "From My Point of View", documents the investigative stories of three different people. In each case, their investigations started with a personal question or an attempt to look at a problem from an unexplored angle. Their focal areas range from Syria's "YouTube Conflict", to urban land grabbing in Lebanon, and home demolitions in East Jerusalem. The third film, "Unseen War", explores the subject of invisibility - physical, moral, and political - in the context of United States (US) drone strikes in Pakistan. The series also includes a series of short "video sketches" with activists and experts. Screenings of the films have been held all around the world; all content is licensed under creative commons, so people can choose any film and host a screening with discussion session. Since the films were released in 2015, over 4,000 people have attended 131 screenings that have been organised by volunteers all over the world.

Sobliye of Tactical Tech explains: "Our films feature political actors leading investigations rather than trained investigators with resources and capacity at their disposal. We follow individuals who use creative, often low-tech methods. Hagit, an Israeli activist who is fighting government demolitions of Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem, works to help families stitch together new narratives that challenge government impunity. She uses community-based, free and open source tools and low-cost tactics to bypass governmental and corporate control over geo-spatial information that shapes society’s view of urban space."

Decoding Data is one of the guides produced by the project. It features 38 case studies from 20 countries, offers 64 tool recommendations and 89 resources, and was written by 11 people. The Resources section of Exposing the Invisible offers a rich database split into five sections:

• Obtaining Evidence: Where should you, the investigator, be looking for evidence? What are the databases and tools you should keep in mind? Provided here are resources to answer those questions.
• Taking Care of Evidence: From protecting sources to encrypting documents, Tactical Tech shows some of the tools available to keep data safe.
• Showing Evidence: Exposing the Invisible offers an array of tools to learn how to efficiently communicate the conclusions of your investigations. From data visualisation to animations, those resources will show you what others have done and show you how to find the most appropriate medium to display your evidence.
• Watching out for Yourself: The technologies you use for your investigations - the internet and your smartphone, for example - can also be used against you. Tools such as anonymous browsing, encrypted communications, and psychological support are provided here.
• Inspiration: Books, websites, and animations, etc.

Part of the project's work has involved collaborations between activists and designers resulting in visual representations. For example, The Land Matrix is an interactive online database and visualisations of land acquisitions worldwide in collaboration with the International Land Coalition (ILC). One of the challenges in this collaboration came from agreeing on the use of language on the Land Matrix website. The partner organisations, with highly specialised backgrounds, tended to use technical language, and Tactical Tech had to argue for the importance of using non-specialist language that could increase accessibility and expand the number of potential users. This discussion process led to the articulation of the three different entry points to the database – get the point, get the picture, and get the detail – to give space to the interests of different audiences, ranging from general to specialist. In a follow-up meeting in May 2012, the leaders of the coalition told Tactical Tech that the visibility that the database received had been overwhelming; in fact, it even made the coalition vulnerable: The fact that many specialists and "hobbyists" went through their database in detail put the organisation under great scrutiny and subjected them to wide-scale critique. However much this was initially a matter of concern for the ILC, the organisation has, in fact, now addressed its own data issues and developed a stricter classification and analysis criteria. In addition, they have adopted a more sustainable and long-term approach to their database.

Transparency, Technology, Rights